The White Cat
by EsmeAmelia
Summary: Simple little piece about Rhen and Dameon bonding with the group's new cat. Written for Mu11berry for the Aveyond Winter Exchange.


AN: I don't own Aveyond – if I did they'd be making another game.

"The White Cat"

By EsmeAmelia

It felt good to have a house.

Of course, the band of adventurers would still have to spend plenty of time at inns when they traveled to other continents to rescue more druids, but it still felt good to have a place they could call their own for now. Even though it had only been a few days since they had obtained their house, Rhen already felt more centered.

Moreover, having a house meant they could also have pets. Even though they would have to periodically leave the house for extended amounts of time, they had already arranged for a neighbor to take care of their pets when they were gone. The brown dog and white cat who were the newest members of the party had already settled into their new home.

It was quiet right now – the others had turned in for the night – but the cat was holding Rhen prisoner on the couch, purring contentedly in her lap.

"Are you cute?" Rhen said in a singsong voice as she stroked the cat's ears. "Are you cute? Yes you are! Yes you are! You are so cute!"

"What do you think we should name her?"

Rhen looked up and there was Dameon entering the living room, a knowing grin on his face. "Dameon?" she exclaimed. "What are you doing up?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Dameon shuffled across the room and sat next to her.

Rhen rubbed her finger up and down the cat's head, savoring the fluffiness of her fur. "Oh, just a little girl keeping me up."

Dameon smiled, running his hand down the cat's back. "It looks like you have a way with animals."

"Well, back in Clearwater I used to help the farmers tend the animals when I was younger." Rhen found herself swallowing as she gazed down at the signet ring on her finger. "Back before I knew I was . . ."

Dameon's finger crept up the cat's back to stroke the ring. "It's all right. Worry about saving the world before worrying about that." He grinned down at the cat as she gave a yawn, sticking out her long tongue and letting them see her sharp teeth. "And let's take a little break from worrying about saving the world so we can give her a name."

Though Rhen wanted to gush over the cat some more, her eyes remained on the ring with the tiny green stone glistening in the candlelight. "Well . . . I guess we could name her Alicia."

"After your mother?"

Her mother. The mother who was a complete stranger, but the mother she _could_ have known were it not for Ahriman. What sort of mother would Alicia Pendragon have been? If Rhen had grown up in a palace instead of in Clearwater, what sort of person would she have been? But then, if Alicia hadn't died, her adoptive parents would never have raised her, the thought of which dried her mouth and caused her stomach to flip. Was it wrong to feel like this?

"Yes," she finally said, "after my mother." Her mother the phantom, her mother the stranger.

Dameon kept his gaze on the cat, as if he were hesitant to look Rhen in the eye. "I think I remember her, a bit."

"What?"

Most of Dameon's focus seemed to be on stroking the cat's – Alicia's – ears. "When I was little," he said in a soft, hesitant voice, "I think I remember visiting Thais . . . with my parents."

"What was she like?" Rhen asked, her voice as hushed as his.

Dameon sighed, his fingers still brushing Alicia's ears, making them bend slightly. "I think I remember sitting in her lap and playing with her long blonde hair. I think I'd also play in the courtyard with the king and queen. Things like that – before everything changed."

Before everything changed. Rhen knew he wasn't _just _referring to Alicia's death. She reached up and gently fingered his ponytail. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to . . ."

"It's not your fault," Dameon murmured, still looking at the cat. "It's just . . ." He trailed off, once more concentrating on the cat and leaving Rhen not knowing what to say. She had often tried to help Dameon not to hate his mother, but what could possibly heal the wounds of his mother killing his father? She couldn't even imagine what it was like to suffer that kind of trauma.

Finally Dameon cleared his throat, though the lump in it remained. "Well . . . anyway, Alicia seems like a fine name for her."

"Then Alicia it is," said Rhen.

As she went back to stroking Alicia the cat, her fingers brushed with Dameon's and he finally looked up at her, giving that smile that always made her feel like blushing.

"Alicia," he repeated.

THE END


End file.
